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    <title>A Java API to read, write and modify Excel spreadsheets</title>
    <link rel="stylesheet" href="jxl.css" />
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    <p class="bighead">
      Java Excel API - A Java API to read, write and modify Excel
      spreadsheets
    </p>

    <p>
      This is the home page of Java Excel API - open source Java API which 
      allows Java developers to read Excel spreadsheets and to generate Excel
      spreadsheets dynamically.  In addition, it contains a mechanism which
      allows java applications to read in a spreadsheet, modify some cells and
      write out the new spreadsheet.  
      <br />
      <br />
      This API allows non Windows operating systems to run pure 
      Java applications which can both process and deliver Excel spreadsheets.
      Because it is Java, this API may be 
      invoked from within a servlet, thus giving access to Excel functionality
      over internet and intranet web applications.
      <br />
    </p>

    <p class="head">
      Features
    </p>
    <p>
      <li>Reads data from Excel 95, 97, 2000 workbooks</li>
      <li>Reads and writes formulas (Excel 97 and later only)</li>
      <li>Generates spreadsheets in Excel 2000 format</li>
      <li>Supports font, number and date formatting</li>
      <li>Supports shading and colouring of cells</li>
      <li>Modifies existing worksheets</li>
      <li>Supports image creation</li>
      <li>Preserves macros on copy</li>
      <li>Customizable logging</li>
    </p>

    <p class="head">
      Limitations
    </p>
    <p>
      <li>
        JExcelApi does not generate or chart, graph or macro information.
        This information is however preserved when spreadsheets are copied
      </li>
      <li>  
        When adding images to a sheet, only PNG image formats are supported
      </li>
    </p>

    <p class="head">
      Getting started
    </p>
    
    <p>
      The distribution comes with a number of demo programs which illustrate
      how the API may be used.  
    </p>

    <p class="smallhead">
      Reading Spreadsheets
    </p>
    <p>
      When reading a spreadsheet, the demo programs
      may be used "as is" to convert Excel files to CSV and XML formats in
      a reasonable manner.
      <br />
      <br />
      <a class="technical">
        java -jar jxl.jar -csv myspreadsheet.xls
      </a>
      <br />
      <br />
      To view the spreadsheet as XML, invoke the demo as follows
      <br />
      <br />
      <a class="technical">
        java -jar jxl.jar -xml myspreadsheet.xls
      </a>
      <br />
      <br />
      In order to present the data the demo uses the classes xlrd/CSV.java and 
      xlrd/XML.java respectively.  For more sophisticated processing, these
      classes may be used as a starting point.  Click 
      <a href="tutorial.html#reading">here</a> for a tutorial.
      <br />
      <br />
    </p>

    <p class="smallhead">
      Generating Spreadsheets
    </p>
    <p>
      The write demo illustrates the functionality accessible 
      within JExcelApi to generate spreadsheets.  The spreadsheet 
      generated by the demo includes
      different fonts, number formatting, date formatting, colours and borders.
      <br /><br />
      To generate the demo spreadsheet, invoke JExcelApi as follows:
      <br />
      <br />
      <a class="technical">
        java -jar jxl.jar -write myspreadsheet.xls
      </a>
      <br />
      <br />
      This will generate the sample spreadsheet called myspreadsheet.xls 
      in the current working directory.  The class used to generate this 
      spreadheet is jxl/Write.java.  This may be used as a starting point 
      for bespoke processing.
    </p>
    <p class="smallhead">
      Copying Spreadsheets
    </p>
    <p>
      JExcelApi may be used to copy and modify a spreadsheet.  Included with
      the JExcelApi is a spreadsheet called jxlrwtest.xls, which is hardcoded
      into the demo program.  If this spreadsheet is passed as a command line
      argument to the demo, then a copy of this spreadsheet will be 
      generated, with the second sheet containing modified values. 
      <br />
      <br />
      DO NOT MODIFY THE DEMO SPREADSHEET otherwise the modification demo will 
      not work.
      <br />
      <br />
      To run this demo, from the directory containing jxlrwtest.xls type
      <br />
      <br />
      <a class="technical">
        java -jar jxl.jar -rw jxlrwtest.xls myoutput.xls
      </a>
      <br />
      <br />
      This will generate an output spreadsheet called myoutput.xls.  The
      first sheet (called "original") is unchanged, but the second sheet
      (called "modified" has had its cell contents changed, as indicated
      by the labels.
      <br />
      <br />
      The class for the modification demo is jxl/ReadWrite.java.
    </p>


    <p class="head">
      Requirements
    </p>

    <p>
      JExcelApi requires Java 2 JDK to run.
      <br /><br />
      When dealing with large spreadsheets, particularly when using the
      copy functionality, it is recommended that users allocate sufficient
      memory to the JVM using the -Xms and -Xmx options on the java command
      line.
    </p>

    <p class="head">
      Installation
    </p>

    <p>
      JExcelApi comes packaged as a zipped tar file, called something like  
      jexcelapi_2_0.tar.gz.  To unpack on UNIX systems, at the command 
      line type
      <br /><br />
      <a class="technical">
        gunzip jexcelapi_2_0.tar.gz</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;    
         followed by
        <br />
      <a class="technical">
        tar xf jexcelapi_2_0.tar
      </a>
      <br /><br />
      On Linux systems this can be accomplished within the single command
      <br /><br />
      <a class="technical">
        tar zxf jexcelapi_2_0.tar.gz
      </a>
      <br /><br />
      On Windows/NT systems, the archive may be unpacked visually using a 
      utility such as Winzip.
      <br /><br />
      Whatever the unpacking process, the application will be placed in a 
      subdirectory called jexcelapi.  The top level directory contains this 
      html page and the 
      pre-built jar file, jxl.jar.
      The docs directory contains the javadoc documentation for the public 
      classes, the build directory contains the buildfile  (requires
      <a href="http://jakarta.apache.org/ant">ant</a>
      ) and the src directory 
      contains the source code for the java classes.
    </p>

    <p class="head">
      Excel Versions
    </p>
    
    <p>
      JExcelApi will read workbooks created in Excel 95, 97 and 2000, and
      will generate workbooks that can be read by Excel 97 and later.
    </p>

    <p class="head">
      Licensing
    </p>  
    <p>
      JExcelApi is issued on under the GNU Lesser General Public License.  For
      further information click 
      <a href="http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html">here</a>.
    </p>

    <p class="head">
      Further Notes
    </p>
    <p>
      A <a href="tutorial.html">tutorial</a> is available for those who wish
      guidance on how to use the API for reading, writing and copying 
      spreadsheets.
    </p>
    <p> 
      When writing out spreadsheets, JExcelApi has limited support for graphs
      charts and macros during the copy process, but they cannot be created
      via the API.
    </p>
    <p>
      For further technical information, including how JExcelApi handles dates
      and unicode characters, read the <a href="technotes.html">technical
      notes</a>
    </p>

    <a href="download.html">Download JExcelApi</a>
    <br /><br />
    <a href="changehistory.html">Change History</a>
    <br /><br />
    <br /><br />
    I endeavour to answer all emails, but it's taking up more and more
    time.  Before emailing me with a question please check the 
    <a href="tutorial.html">FAQ</a> first.    
    <br /><br />
    Eric Jung has set up a <a class="smallhead">yahoo group</a>&nbsp;
    <a href="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/JExcelApi">here</a>.  As well as
    providing a discussion forum I will also post a message to this group
    whenever a new version of JExcelApi is released.
    <br /><br />
    Please check out these resources before emailing me - if
    I can keep the amount of time spent answering emails to a reasonable level
    then I can still expend effort on enhancing the software.
    <br />
    <a href="mailto:andyk@andykhan.freeserve.co.uk">Contact me</a>
    <br /><br />
    Stefano has ported JExcelApi to .net.  You can access the software <a href="http://nexcel.sourceforge.net">here</a>
    <br /><br />

    <p class="head">
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    </p>
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    <p>
      This site last updated 10th April, 2005
    </p>
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